Boris Johnson to build new swimming pool at Oxfordshire manor | UK News

Boris Johnson has been granted permission to build a swimming pool at his £3.8 million moated manor despite concerns it could impact newts.

The development at Boris’s Oxfordshire manor was initially put on hold because of concerns it would be near to a population of great crested newts.

South Oxfordshire District Council has confirmed it can go ahead at the Grade-II Brightwell Manor providing work is carried out to mitigate risks to the newts.

The ex-PM has vowed to ‘do whatever it takes’ to protect the newts, including building ‘newt motels’.

This also includes plans to enhance an orchard already present to make up for a loss of biodiversity caused by the development.

The council confirmed the applicant had opted to use its district level licence to provide compensation in the case of damage to local amphibians.

Local councils have a duty to check developers have plans to mitigate building work’s impact on animals.

The proposed 11-by-four-metre swimming pool would would sit 35m from the moat and 80m from a pond, an area suitable for great crested newts according to a local conservation officer.

It is controversial because the newt population is in decline and they are considered a protected species.

It is an offence to deliberately kill, capture, injure, or damage newt breeding sites and resting places.

When Boris Johnson was prime minister he argued ‘newt counting’ was holding back housebuilding.

But in a Daily Mail column, he said he would do ‘whatever it takes’ to protect the newts.

He said the rules may ‘sound barmy’ but added the UK must protect the animals ‘or posterity will not forgive us’.

Permission has been granted ‘strictly in accordance with the description, plans and specifications contained in the application… subject to the following conditions’, the council confirmed.

It continued: ‘The scale and design of the proposed development would be in keeping with the character of the building and the surrounding area and would not materially harm the amenity of neighbouring properties or highway safety.’

It has also been granted on the basis nearby trees are protected and developers abide by the great crested newt mitigation principles and arrange an ‘archaeological watching brief’.

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